THE GUARDIANS & CUSTODIANS OF KARNATAKA OF UPHOLDING MAJESTY OF JUSTICE; CONTRARILY BROODING CORRUPTION IN JUDICIARY, LOKAYUKTA, HIGH COURTS OF INDIA, HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS OF INDIA, AND CREATING ANARCHY IN OUR PRISTINE INDIAN JUDICIAL HISTORY .,

Since 1927, TIME has selected the most influential person of the year, identifying the person or group of people who have had the largest impact—positive or negative—on the world during that year. Though the editors make the ultimate decision as to who has earned the title each year, the reader poll provides insight into how the world perceives influence. For this year’s poll, TIME editors—in partnership with Opentopic and IBM’s Watson—were also able to access information about how candidates made their mark on the Internet, which was available while deciding who would be included on the poll.

Modi performed particularly well among voters in California and New Jersey, earning 17% and 12% of all “yes” votes in those states, respectively. In Washington, D.C., the President, First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton were the most popular choices, with 8% of “yes” votes each. In Rhode Island, Assange earned a noteworthy 20% of votes.

As for the President-elect, Donald Trump’s margin as the top recipient of “yes” votes is highest in North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Wisconsin and Louisiana—all states won by Trump in the presidential election. By comparison, his percentage of those votes was lowest in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and Washington D.C.—all of which went to Clinton.

Searches started in Bengaluru, and Erode and Chennai in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday and concluded on Friday night.

Anti-Corruption Bureau will seek details from Income Tax Department on the disproportionate assets found in the possession of the two PWD chief engineers.

A whopping Rs. 152 crore unaccounted income, including a huge stash of new notes, bullion, jewellery, and documents pertaining to property ownership, have been seized on the premises of two chief engineers of the PWD and contractors, by the I-T officials over the last three days.

Home Minister G. Parameshwara announced, on the Floor of the Council, suspension of the two chief engineers S.C. Jayachandra, Chief Project Officer of the State Highway Development Project, and T.N. Chikkarayappa, Managing Director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called I-T sleuths in Bengaluru and congratulated them for the successful seizure operation.

Searches started in Bengaluru, and Erode and Chennai in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday and concluded on Friday night. A total of 18 locations in Bengaluru are under the I-T scanner. “The unaccounted income is expected to go up further. We will get a rough estimate on the extent of income and properties by Monday,” sources said.

ACB to seek details of disproportionate assets

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will seek details from Income Tax Department on the disproportionate assets found in the possession of Public Works Department chief engineers S.C. Jayachandra and T.N. Chikkarayappa.

ACB Inspector General of Police M.A. Saleem told The Hindu that they are keen to pursue cases against the two officials on the basis of information about unaccounted income coming from I-Tax department since the money recovered from their premises could be more than their known sources of income.

Incidentally, Mr. Jayachandra had run into trouble when Lokayukta sleuths had searched his premises in 2008 on the charge of disproportionate income. The government is yet to give permission for prosecution.

Gold and cash seizures go up

Meanwhile, the search of premises of the two officials, contractor Ramalingam, Sibi Chakravarthy of Kannan Borewells and banker Umashankar continued for the third day on Friday. The amount of unaccounted cash and gold has gone up. The I-T search, which officials say was in the offing for some time, comes when the State government has finalised tenders for execution of road works worth about Rs. 3,500 crore under the State Highway Development Project (SHDP).

Of the over Rs. 6 crore currency seized, the department said that nearly Rs. 5.7 crore was in new Rs. 2,000 currency. About Rs. 90 lakh is in the demonetised Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency. Sleuths have seized about seven kilos of bullion, suspected to have been purchased after demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency, nearly nine kilos of gold jewellery – together worth about Rs. 5 crore, an I-T department note said. Several high-end cars too have been seized.

Rs. 71 lakh in new currency seized

Three persons were caught carrying new Rs. 2,000 notes amounting to Rs. 71 lakh at Bailoor village near Karkala on Thursday evening. The police handed them over to Income Tax officials in Mangaluru.

Karkala Circle Inspector Joy Anthony told The Hindu on Friday that the police were checking vehicles at Bailoor on Thursday evening. Around 7 p.m., they stopped a car going from Mangaluru towards Kudremukh. Inside, they found currency of Rs. 2,000 denomination totalling Rs. 71 lakh in a plastic bag. The occupants of the car — Imran Hussain, Asif Umar and Deepak Shetty — failed to give a proper explanation for the huge amount of cash. All three are from Mangaluru and are aged between 35 and 40 years.

The police did the ‘panchanama’ but did not register a case, Mr. Anthony said.

Sources in the Income Tax Department said that the youth were part of a money exchange network that has been operating in the coastal towns since November 8. The network operated in two layers, the official explained, adding that while the big operator took a 25 per cent cut from those wishing to convert their demonetised currency to new ones, he would sub-contract the work of getting legal currency to his associates. “The big operators pay Rs. 2,000 for every Rs. 24,000 being withdrawn in legal tender,” the official said.

New notes seized in Chikkamagaluru

Chikkamagaluru Police on Friday seized Rs. 46 lakh in currency notes of Rs.2,000 denomination from two people in Jayanagar town. The police have taken the duo Kiran and Kumar into custody.

The duo were transporting the cash in a car. They had no explanation for the cash. The police have seized the car. It is said that the car belongs to a businessman in Hassan.

The CJI said the “powerful and assertive Parliament” tries to assert for a greater say in the matter of judicial appointments.

Amid the judiciary-government tussle, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur on Thursday asserted the process of appointment of judges cannot be “hijacked” and judiciary needs to be independent as it plays a role in the eventuality of a “tyrannical regime”. He also made it clear that judiciary cannot depend on executive in choosing judges. He said judiciary must be independent regarding internal matters of judicial administration, including assignment of cases to the judges within the court, as unless there is an independent judiciary, the rights which are conferred by the Constitution would be “meaningless”.

The remarks, made by the CJI while delivering the 37th Bhimsen Sachar memorial lecture here on ‘Independent Judiciary – Bastion of Democracy’, assume importance in the wake of mounting tension between the judiciary and executive over the appointment of judges for higher judiciary as both the organs of the State have been blaming each other for the increasing vacancies of judges and to remain within a ‘lakshmanrekha’.

Justice Thakur, who will be demitting office of CJI on January 3 next year, said the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act 2014, which was struck down last year by the Supreme Court, was an attempt which would have affected the independence of judiciary.

Referring to Article 144 of the Constitution, TS Thakur said that it itself mentions all authorities in the country must act in aid of the judiciary. (Source: File photo)

He added the “powerful and assertive Parliament” tries to assert for a greater say in the matter of judicial appointments.

Asserting that independence of judiciary was paramount for a democracy, he said judiciary cannot depend on the executive for discharging its duties and since the government was the “biggest litigant”, one cannot say that executive can choose the judges to hear a case.

Referring to the NJAC verdict by a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice J S Khehar who will succeed him as the CJI, Justice Thakur said, “The recent decision by the constitution bench striking down constitutional amendment by which NJAC was supposed to be set up also goes into all these aspects.”

“It discusses how the court cannot have a situation where independence of judiciary gets affected by reason of appointment process being hijacked. If you have the Law minister and two nominees of the government in the panel that is going to appoint judges, the court saw this as an attempt to affect the independence of judiciary,” he said.

“The powerful and assertive Parliament tries to assert for a greater say in the matter of judicial appointments. An attempt to take away from judiciary the power to appoint judges was seen by the judiciary as an attempt to affect the independence of judiciary.

“Constitutional amendment seeking to set up NJAC was one such attempt. It was seen as an attempt that would affect the independence of judiciary,” he said.

The CJI further said, “Judiciary must be independent as to the internal matters of judicial administration including the assignment of cases to judges within the court. Who should hear which case should not be decided by anybody except the judiciary.”

“You cannot say the executive will choose its judges. Judiciary must have complete freedom in assigning as to who would be the judges who will decide a case,” he said.

Referring to Article 144 of the Constitution, he said that it itself mentions all authorities in the country must act in aid of the judiciary.

“There is no option for statutory or non-statutory authorities except to fall in line. Judiciary is a guard who is always on the lookout like a watchman. Keeps its eyes open, that is the role judiciary plays against a tyrannical regime.”

“This country has seen many ups and downs. Over the past 60-70 years, we have seen judgements full of situation in which the executive has gone far beyond its legitimate sphere. If you have to protect the citizens against tyrannical regimes, you need a judiciary. The entire chapter on Fundamental Rights will be rendered meaningless without an independent judiciary.

“Principle of independence of judiciary was not meant for personal benefits of judges but was created to protect humans against abuses of power,” the CJI said.

He said that everything is regulated under Constitution and appointment of judges is no exception.

“The Supreme Court has had many occasions to interpret this provision of appointment of judges. The much-maligned collegium system has also been evolved while interpreting this provision,” he said.

“If you talk of independent judiciary, you cannot have a judiciary which will depend on the executive for discharge of its functions. Judiciary must have complete freedom to decide who should be the judge to hear a matter,” the CJI said.

He said that issue of promotion of judges must be based on objective factors and the question of accountability of judges on ethical and professional behaviour must be dealt by a fully impartial organ ensuring due process of law.

“If the proceedings against judges are taken up by the politicians or bureaucracy, it would seriously infringe upon the independence of the judiciary,” he said.

Thakur also said that the judiciary is a “guardian” of the rights of the people and government has to respect judgements given by the judiciary.

He also advocated for complete separation of judiciary from the executive.

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